Interlude time.
Earlier, we learned that Wendel gave us the shepherd's hut two years ago. So what have we been doing for sustenance all that time? Where'd the bread and cheese come from? Did we grow our own grain and milk our own cows? We surely didn't buy food from the village of Delmer, because they were willing to murder us rather than let us in.
It's quite logical for herder of a few ewes to milk them and turn the milk into cheese for conservation. I am not surprised. The bread, however, is described as stale -- even without going to the village, there is the possibility that some of the village would barter some bread for cheese. If we go by Ulrik's words, Marla and us were forbidden to set foot in the village again, maybe not all are renouncing our fantastic, if mody, deary products because of fear of witches.
That or there is another village nearby, with a hospital, where we neglected to go, despite us coming frequently to get our bread.
Third possibility, Marla daily cast Create Food and Water, since it is quite clear she has magical power of her own. We got her to see a doctor when she stopped casting (because she was catatonic), hence the "stale" bread.
Regarding the journey from Delmer to Freeton: some quick web searches tell me that the average person can hike about 8-15 miles per day, depending upon terrain and other factors. If we go with the low end of the range, given it's been established that Seagate Island is mountainous, we'll say a week of hiking took us about 56 miles.
The most difficult and montainous hiking trail in france is 180 km long (across Corsica) and is designed to be done in 16 days, with daily walking times between of an average of 5-6 hours. Even if we're not physical beast, I'd say a young adult raised in a rural medieval environment, a shepherd, is more physically apt than an urban average person of the 21st century. Guides for this hike go from 5 days (for trained hikers) to 10 days as adapted for a fit person, but not too demanding. Going by this, I find a 80 miles value.
For reference, Manhattan is about 13.5 miles long and about 2.5 miles wide at its widest. Grand Bahama Island is about 95 miles X 15 miles.
So Seagate Island is about four times longer than Manhattan (at least in one dimension), and maybe about half the size of Grand Bahama overall. Or we've hiked across the "short" part of the island and the rest of it is 500 miles long. Who knows, really?
Seagate Island must have extremely steep terrain that drops right down to the waterline, because we emerge from the mountains into Delmer and five minutes later we're on the wharf at Wendel's house; and now we're about to do the same thing in Freeton: emerge from the mountains and head down to the wharf to look for Uncle Beldon's house. (Also why does everyone live near the wharf?)
Because everywhere else, the floor would be oblique because of the mountain slope!
